Melbourne & Our Road Trip!

Life on the Road 

We flew into Melbourne at around 1am December 3rd and blearily found our way towards our hostel, and more importantly, our beds. After three long months of living the employed Perth dream and saving up all that we could, it was finally time to don the faithful Havaianas and reclaim our rightful role as frugal, noodle eating backpackers. The lifestyle came back to us pretty quickly, and within just a few hours the next day we were back in the shorts and vests and roaming around make-up free without a job related care in the world. 

We spent the next few days in central Melbourne, making full use of the free trams and taking advantage of the huge H&M that we had discovered - the first one we’ve come across in nine months - long story short, money was spent. 
It was then the day we had been waiting for - day one of our mini road trip! We left early to pick up our luminous green and purple Jucy camper-van, and after a quick stop off for the essentials - petrol, food and cider etc, it was time to hit the road. After a few hours we made it onto The Great Ocean Road, and after stopping for a necessary ‘we made it!’ photo, we headed onto our first stop for the night. What I may have failed to mention, is that it had already started pouring at this point, and so suddenly the idea of having to live, sleep and cook in this one vehicle wasn’t so appealing anymore…

The End Of A Perth Era

The Lucky Shag 

Before I even start this post, big apologises to Karen Semmens, who has told me over and over again for the last four months that I needed to update my blog - so here it is! 

So it’s officially the end of an era, as we packed up our belongings once again and closed the door to our apartment in Perth for the final time. After three long months of working, saving money, and working again, it was finally time for us to don the flip-flops and get our unemployed backpacker status back. It wasn’t the easiest of beginnings for us, as we arrived into the city not knowing a single person, not knowing anything about the location, and on the off chance we could all find jobs and an apartment to live in. (Cue the apartment pants and new job boots*)

Travel Interviews

Check out my two recent interviews with Totally Sam's World and Londoner Abroad here! 

Travelling the Australian East Coast

Where to go, where to stay and what to do! 

Sydney - Base Backpackers

• Jet boat around Sydney Harbour
• Visit Bondi Beach and do the coastal walk
• Take a guided walking tour of The Blue Mountains 
• Have dinner at the top of Westfield Tower
• Take surfing lessons with MojoSurf
• Watch the Sunday fireworks at Darling Harbour
• Visit the Sea-life Aquarium 
• Have lunch in Hyde Park

Byron Bay - Nomads & The Arts Factory

• Take a day tour to Nimbin and stock up on green cookies
• Do the sunset walk up to the lighthouse
• Go down to the beach at night to watch the street performers 

The End of the East Coast

After two long months on the road, with nothing but a suitcase, backpack and a gradually decreasing bank account, our backpacking journey of the East Coast in Australia has come to an end. There’ll be no more weary morning checkouts, or sixteen-bed room shares - no more noodle dinners, chocolate biscuit breakfasts or McDonald lunches. No longer will we have to sleep curled up in the seat of a Greyhound bus for thirteen hours, or drag all of our worldly belongings behind us as we race to the bus station. But don’t let that put you off, because it’s safe to say that these have been the greatest two months of my life (cliché, sorry!) 

After quitting my job, saying goodbye to family and friends and moving myself over to the other side of the planet, I was soon doing things I could have only imagined. I’ve jet boated around Sydney Harbour and seen where Russell Crow lives. I’ve had surfing lessons from the best instructors in Australia, Mojo Surf, and I’ve hiked through the Blue Mountains with a friend of Steve Irwin. I’ve had a top-notch dinner at the top of Westfield Tower and been able to watch so many incredible sunsets in so many different, beautiful places. I’ve visited Steve Irwin’s zoo in Brisbane, canoed around the everglades in Noosa, and gone camping on the amazing Fraser Island. I’ve sailed around the Whitsunday Islands, slept under the Milkyway on a racing boat, visited the third most beautiful beach in the world and gone snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef itself. Last week I even jumped out of a plane at 14,000ft and did my first bungee jump. So yes, it’s been a pretty great couple of months!

Agnes Water & The Whitsunday Islands

Southern Cross Backpackers 

We stayed in Agnes Water for three nights, at what has to be the nicest hostel we’ve stayed in so far - only took me six weeks to find one I liked! Situated on sixteen acres of land, Southern Cross Backpackers was more like a tropical holiday resort than a place for weary and slightly dirty backpackers to lay their heads for a few nights. With it’s own lake, chilli patch, horse field and individual wooden cabins, all with ensuite bathrooms, we definitely felt like we had hit the jackpot. Wifi was free, along with breakfast every morning and tea and coffee all day long. There was a pool for relaxing next to, as well as hammocks located all over the grounds (on the off chance you needed to rest after actually doing something strenuous.) Whilst in Agnes we took part in the Scooter Roo Tours - $75 for four hours worth of motorcycling around the town and spotting wild kangaroos (made sure to tell my parents about it AFTER the ride.) Within the first five minutes we were applying our fake tattoos and donning our leather jackets, complete with flamed embroidery - obviously! The route took us all around Agnes Water and Town 1770, named after the year Captain Cook first discovered it, as well as down to the marina to watch the sunset. Admittedly, I was not the best rider, but that didn’t take away from the experience. Being able to see the wild kangaroos in their natural environment was one of the coolest things we’ve done so far, as well as being able to see this pretty incredible end to the day. 

Fraser Island (And a Little Bit of Rainbow Beach)

Driving on Fraser Island

Rainbow Beach…a beautiful, sometimes sunny and ridiculously boring place to be. That pretty much sums up the five days that we spent at Fraser’s On Rainbow, after having to extend our stay before our weekend trip to Fraser Island. After arriving on the Monday and coming to the conclusion that there was next to nothing to do, the realisation that we were stuck there for the next week hit us hard. Luckily, the amazingly speedy wifi soon perked us up, and within the hour we were happily downloading movies and catching up with the latest How I Met Your Mother in no time (Finally got to see the ending!) 
To be fair, we did eventually manage to find some things to keep us entertained. For $30 on Thursday morning we headed over on the ferry to Tin Can Bay, where we were able to see a group of wild dolphins coming in for their breakfast. For another $5 we were actually able to get in the water with them and hand feed them, which was an amazing experience - despite the fact I had a slimy dead fish in my hands and the woman told me off for wearing my flip-flops near the edge (apparently dolphins are well known for their dislike of Havaianas) 
That afternoon we also did the hostel’s daily sunset walk, which took us up to the Caloola sand dunes where we went sand-boarding and, you guessed it, watched the sunset. That was definitely one of those ‘I can’t quite believe this is my life’ moments, as we sat together in silence and took in the beautiful view, with only one woman’s ukulele to be heard. 

Backpacking Tips & Tricks

The more people you eat with, the cheaper it'll be.

1 - I’ve mentioned it before, but don’t assume that because you’re backpacking, you must have a backpack. I came out with a 120L capacity backpack and within just a few room changes I was ready to dump it and leave all my worldly possessions behind. A suitcase will become your best friend - easy to move, easy to pack, and most of all - easy to see where the hell all your stuff is! There is nothing more frustrating than trying to find a specific item of clothing and looking like a vet with his arm inside a cow - trust me, wheels are best.

2 - Never be afraid to ask for the odd cheeky discount. When buying my suitcase it was $199, a little over my budget. But after a simple question of ‘do you do backpackers discount…?’ I had managed to work $80 off - bargains! 

3 - Suncream suncream suncream. I can’t stress this enough - anything under SPF 50 and you will burn. To be honest, even with SPF 50 you’ll still have the odd lobster day. The ozone layer is a lot thinner in Australia, making it deceivingly difficult to guess when you need to apply. Simple solution - buy the aerosol kind and top up regularly, no stickiness, no greasy hands and you’ll be covered within 20 seconds. 

No Longer an Ink Virgin

'Wanderlust - A Great desire or impulse to travel the world and rove about.'